What your fat says about you

Many of us react to our body fat in the same way.  We curse it with various unsavory names like chub, waddle, flab, and junk (usually in reference to a trunk).  It is goaded with crunches, "miracle" supplements, and hours of cardio. We grab it like Homer Simpson strangling Bart as if to punish its very existence.   But have we actually thought about what it is trying to tell us?

Where your body stores fat is a direct reflection of your hormonal balance.  Many think that genes are solely to blame for our ever expanding waistlines or that gender determines whether you'll get love handles or bingo wings.  Yes, genes do have some play here but they only account for 25% of your health.  The rest depends on what you bathe your genes in, your environment.  Over the years, emerging science has found that "regional fat distribution is clearly regulated by hormones" (Curr Med Chem. 2007; 14(27): 2918-24).  These hormones include high insulin, increased cortisol, low testosterone, and low growth hormone.

So your fat is telling you exactly what hormones are out of whack.    Just take a step back try to look at your body with a different lens.  It's not about your total fat percentage, but where it happens to sit on your body that counts.  You don't need years of clinical experience to look at a man and know that boobs are not supposed to be there.  Sorry Kramer, the "bro" is not the answer to an outbreak of moobs (man + boobs).

The answer is to prioritize the hormonal imbalances and apply lifestyle changes, exercises, and nutrients that will change the body's environment and reverse the dysfunction.  In his Biosignature Modulation, world-renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin has identified 12 distinct areas of fat deposition and their associated hormones.

So, do we need costly labs and expensive tests to explain why most of us are overweight, fatigued, sleepless, moody, or anxious?  No, of course not!  Yet we are getting sicker and fatter because our current health care system is designed to implement heroic, expensive, disease managing tactics that rarely support the health of the patient.  Let us use our God-given talents of sight, reason, and common sense.  If we see a problem on the outside, then we know there is something wrong on the inside. In our office, we dare to use these low-tech methods as well as low-cost analyses such as Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (method of measuring muscle mass, water weight, and overall fat mass) and ultrasound to measure fat thickness of Poliquin's key areas.  The number on your scale is just a number.  It does not give you any insight as to what makes up your weight or what is causing you to be overweight.  Oh, and I hate to break it to some of you but the fat % on your bathroom scale is only telling you the fat % in your legs.  The same goes for the gizmos that you hold in your hands, they just tell you the fat in your arms and chest.  Both of which miss key areas of fat storage, namely your belly fat which is the MOST inflammatory and ANGRY fat you can store.

Everyday, all day our bodies are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing whether you are fit or flabby.  Your fat mass accumulation is 100% normal!  Yes!  Normal!  Your body is just doing what it told based off of the stimulus you give it.  Every meal, every night's sleep, every second is a chance to use this system to your advantage or disadvantage.  So, listen to your body (and your fat).  If you don't like what you hear, then get things checked out by your functional medicine-minded practitioner and we can help you develop lifestyle changes that allow you author your own health.